


a heavy leaf to turn

by blackkat



Series: there's sun on my skin (I am brand new) [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And also concentrated sunshine, Gen, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend, de-aged!Orochimaru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 07:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13713324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: Utatane is old now, too, and it’s a little strange to look at her and remember the woman she used to be, overlaid with what Orochimaru can see now. Like a warped mirror showing two reflections. A lot of things are like that, though. Orochimaru is nine years old, but he used to be fifty. He used to be someone else, and no one will tell him anything about it.The village still whispers about him, though. That much hasn’t changed.





	a heavy leaf to turn

People call Naruto a monster even when Orochimaru isn’t around.

He’s tested the hypothesis in every way possible, watching Naruto around people Orochimaru has never met before, with people he has, when they're together and when Naruto thinks they're apart. It’s easy enough to hide from him—he never expects anyone to be following him, so he never looks for another presence, and it’s an advantage where tracking him is concerned but it makes something feel strange and sore in Orochimaru’s chest.

Kakashi stares at him when he says as much, actually lifts his head from his book and gives Orochimaru a long, long look. Then he turns to another page, and says, “Don’t worry about it.”

Orochimaru can't help but feel concerned, though. Naruto is _kind_. He treats Orochimaru like a younger brother, keeps teaching him the best way to prank people and get away with it, even if Naruto himself doesn’t usually seem all that concerned with escaping notice. He _could_ , but he _doesn’t_ , and Orochimaru thinks of Jiraiya and his boldness, his loudness that never had quite the same cant to it that Naruto's does, and feels…strange.

It’s nice being on Naruto's team, though. Not anything like being with Jiraiya and Tsunade, and Orochimaru misses them, misses Sarutobi-sensei as well, but Sarutobi said he was too old to keep teaching Orochimaru, that Tsunade and Jiraiya were older too and out of the village on missions, so he couldn’t see them. Kakashi is his teacher now, and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are his teammates.

They're nice. Sakura and Naruto more overtly, but Sasuke too sometimes. It’s the same way Tsunade used to be nice, when she thought Orochimaru was a boy and not either a boy _or_ a girl. She’d been kind only when she thought no one would notice, and Sasuke acts like that most of the time. Orochimaru doesn’t mind it; his father told him that everyone has a place where they're soft, and that most people won't show it until they trust they won't get hurt. Like a rattlesnake that keeps shaking its tail until it realizes there's no threat.

Orochimaru does the same thing, most of the time. He hurts too whenever he thinks about his parents and the Iwa nin that killed them. Sasuke has the same type of wound, he thinks.

A hand lands on his head, startling him out of his thoughts, and he glances up, past the fingerless gloves almost blocking his vision, to find Kakashi’s uncovered eye trained on him.

“You're worrying,” Kakashi says dryly. “I thought I told you to stop.”

“Sorry,” Orochimaru says quietly, turning his eyes back towards the bridge ahead of them. He can just make out the orange of Naruto's jacket through the trees, and Kakashi’s words might not have made him feel any lighter, but that glimpse is enough to lift his heart a little.

Kakashi just hums, skeptical and light, and comes to a halt in the middle of the road. “I need to run an errand,” he says airily. “Why don’t you go ahead, Orochimaru?”

Orochimaru gives him a long look, then rolls his eyes a little. Really, does Kakashi think he’s as dense as _Jiraiya_? “You're going to go read your book in a tree—” he starts, but it’s already too late.

A scarecrow teeters where Kakashi was standing for a long moment, then topples over and falls to the ground with a dusty thud.

Really, Orochimaru thinks disapprovingly. They have the Chuunin Exams coming up, and Kakashi is supposed to be training them. _This_ is _not_ actually training, and it’s starting to make Orochimaru a little testy. At some point, he’s going to convince Naruto to help him set up their biggest prank yet, just for Kakashi. And, if they can come up with a convincing argument, Sasuke and Sakura will likely help them with it.

Orochimaru knows his own skills, and he’s going to be able to make it through practically any tests that could possibly be given. But he’s also not used to working with this team, and he needs _practice_. He’s only known them for a few weeks, and that’s not long enough to move smoothly around each other. Not yet. It wasn’t even with Jiraiya and Tsunade, and they at least had a teacher who devoted a lot more time to helping them learn those skills.

He really, really wishes Sarutobi-sensei wasn’t too old to teach them. Orochimaru misses him a lot.

“Orochimaru?” Naruto calls, and Orochimaru looks up from glaring at the scarecrow to offer the older boy a small smile. Naruto grins back, bounding closer, and when he sees the scarecrow he pulls a face. “Did Kakashi-sensei run off again?”

“He said he had errands,” Orochimaru offers, even though they both know it’s absolutely a lie. The face Naruto pulls shows very clearly what he thinks of _that_ , but he grabs Orochimaru by the wrist instead of haranguing their absent jounin instructor.

“Come on!” he insists. “We’ve been waiting and it’s really boring just watching the bastard brood!”

Orochimaru should probably say something in Sasuke's defense—he always used to do that for Jiraiya when Tsunade was really mad at him—but…it’s nice that Naruto is focusing on _him_ even over Sasuke. They're rivals, which Orochimaru is sure means something like _friends who won't admit it_ going by what he’s seen with them and with Jiraiya. And Orochimaru is glad Naruto has _some_ friends when the village as a whole seems to dislike him just as much as they do Orochimaru himself, but…he likes it when Naruto is around. Likes it far more than being around Kakashi, who watches him with cool eyes, or Sarutobi-sensei, who always looks so _sad_ now.

Naruto is always smiling, even when Orochimaru thinks he probably shouldn’t be.

As they round the edge of the trees to approach the bridge, Sakura looks up and smiles. “Hi, Orochimaru,” she says warmly, then glances behind him like she’s looking for Kakashi.

“The bastard ran off again,” Naruto says loudly, letting go of Orochimaru and throwing himself down to sit on the bridge, back against the railing. He crosses his legs under himself, and says with an air of authority, “We should prank him!”

Sasuke, previously occupied with looking entirely uninterested in their conversation, glances up at that. He looks at Naruto, then at Orochimaru, who’s nodding, and offers, “Hn. He deserves it.”

Sasuke's agreement makes Sakura hesitate, looking torn. She clearly wants to agree with her crush, though she also gets hung up on ideas that their teacher is their leader and can do no wrong. Danzō, who used to attend some of Team Hiruzen's training sessions, would probably approve—he had liked that attitude in Jiraiya, after all. Orochimaru himself finds it a little boring. Logic says that their jounin instructor is just as human as they are, and experience aside he’s just as ridiculous as any genin sometimes. _Especially_ this one.

“It’s like a team-building exercise,” he offers, and when Sakura looks at him, biting her lip, he tries for a convincing smile. “Kakashi-sensei is a jounin. We won't be able to hurt him.”

That’s a lie, and Orochimaru is well aware of it. Technically he’s strong enough to be a chuunin—Sarutobi only put him on this team so he would have an easier time settling into a village that’s years past what he used to know—and if he’s clever he can make up for the gap in experience. But he doesn’t actually want to hurt Kakashi, just…get a little revenge.

“Yeah!” Naruto cheers, and he’s grinning, somehow warmer and brighter than Jiraiya ever was. Orochimaru is…well. Snakes always like the warmth of the sun, don’t they? “Like the bell test, but this time we’re the ones giving it and Kakashi-sensei is the one taking it!”

Orochimaru can't help but make a face, because he remembers _his_ bell test, and it was awful. “What about that man in green?” he asks, and it’s easy enough to recall someone _like_ that—Maito Dai was several years older than Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, but hard to overlook even so—even if Orochimaru is adjusting to no one actually being who he expects them to. “He called Kakashi-sensei his rival. Maybe…”

Naruto and Sasuke look at each other, and Naruto pulls a face. Sasuke grimaces, and says, “Not him.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Sakura says a little tentatively. “He had a genin team, too, didn’t he? We only saw them from a distance, but maybe if he wants to help, they will too. for training.”

“Making use of allies is good shinobi tactics,” Orochimaru offers.

Naruto huffs. “We’re not _making use of allies_ ,” he protests. “We’re _making friends_ , okay? Not everything’s a mission!”

“But this is a mission,” Orochimaru points out, confused.

“It’s a prank!” Naruto insists.

“But pranks are like setting traps, and traps are a shinobi skill as well.” Orochimaru had thought this was obvious, but given the way Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto are all staring at him, apparently not.

“What?” Naruto asks loudly. “Those are _shinobi skills_?”

Orochimaru blinks at him, then over at Sakura, who’s suddenly looking very thoughtful. “Of course,” he says. “Trap masters are very important to the success of missions. Most of them know a lot of seals, too. Like Utatane.”

“Seals?” Sasuke is looking more interested now, too. His eyes flicker to Naruto and then back to Orochimaru, and he frowns.

“We covered summoning seals and explosive tags in class,” Sakura reminds them. “Who is Utatane?”

“Utatane Koharu, Sarutobi-sensei’s genin teammate,” Orochimaru tells her. “She’s the village’s best trap specialist.”

Naruto laughs, bouncing to his feet. “Let’s go ask _her_ to help us!” he insists. “We can be trap specialists too!”

Utatane always liked Orochimaru, and she was very smart and also nice to him, so he has no objection to this plan. Nodding, he takes a step to Naruto's side, and says, “It was her house where we had to weed the gardens last week.”

Naruto's face scrunches up in confusion, but Sakura brightens. “I remember,” she says. “Her kanzashi was really pretty.”

Utatane is old now, too, and it’s a little strange to look at her and remember the woman she used to be, overlaid with what Orochimaru can see now. Like a warped mirror showing two reflections. A lot of things are like that, though. Orochimaru is nine years old, but he used to be fifty. He used to be someone else, and no one will tell him anything about it.

The village still whispers about him, though. That much hasn’t changed.

A hand closes around his, and Naruto is suddenly beside him, in his space, tugging him forward. “Come on, let’s go!” he urges, and it’s not the tenseness of his rivalry with Jiraiya, nothing like it at all. He’s grinning at Orochimaru, and it fells strange in his chest, like his heart is beating sideways.

 _I don’t want to let go_ , he thinks, and it’s only partly for himself. People call Naruto a monster, just like they do Orochimaru, and all Orochimaru wants is to stand next to Naruto and help him keep smiling.

“It’s technically still training, even if we’re asking for training from someone else, isn’t it?” Sakura says, and her expression is a little guilty, but when Naruto starts dragging Orochimaru towards the village she doesn’t hesitate to fall into step with them.

“Hn,” Sasuke grunts, but he joins them as well. There's a pause, and then he asks, “Seals can't be changed or copied, can they?”

“No,” Orochimaru says, glancing over his shoulder to look at the boy. “The Sharingan copies a person’s active chakra use. It can't copy seals, because it’s technically residual chakra.”

Sasuke blinks at him, looking like he was just caught off guard, and Orochimaru hesitates, wondering if this is something he’s supposed to pretend not to know about, like anatomy or the effect of poisons. Jiraiya always called him creepy for knowing things like that.

Sasuke looks thoughtful instead. “You know about the Sharingan?” he asks.

Orochimaru nods, but before he can say anything Naruto cheers, “Orochimaru knows _everything_! He’d have been the best in the Academy, even more than you, teme!”

There's heat in Orochimaru’s cheeks, and he ducks his head, hiding behind his hair. He’s well aware that he’s a genius—Sarutobi was always proud of that fact—but hearing Naruto say it so simply, straight out and unabashed…

It just feels different, that’s all.

Sasuke makes a noise of offense, but he’s drifting closer even so, and Sakura giggles a little, raising a hand to hide it. Naruto is grinning, and Orochimaru looks up at him. He still misses his team, can't wait until Jiraiya and Tsunade come back from their missions, but…

This is a good place to be, he thinks, and curls his fingers into Naruto's sleeve as they head down the road in the sunlight.


End file.
